Briefs

A judge issued an acquittal Friday of the only official to have gone to trial in Russia in the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer whose death in prison three years ago inspired the U.S. Congress to pass a law addressing human rights abuses in Russia.

The official, Dr. Dmitry Kratov, the former head of the medical service at Butyrka Prison, where Magnitsky had been held, was accused of negligence for refusing repeated requests for treatment for pancreatitis and gallstones.

ITALY

Berlusconi alimony set

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has reported the details of the divorce settlement between ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his second wife Veronica Lario, saying he must pay her $4 million a month alimony but gets to keep their estate.

Lario announced she was divorcing the billionaire media mogul in 2009, citing his presence at the 18th birthday party of a Naples girl and his fondness for younger women.

The 76-year-old Berlusconi is currently dating a woman nearly 50 years his junior.

GREECE

Party expels ex-official

Greece's former finance minister is at the center of an escalating political scandal after three of his relatives were allegedly found missing from a list of Greeks with Swiss banks accounts that authorities are using to investigate possible tax evasion.

George Papaconstantinou, who was the main architect of debt-ridden Greece's first austerity program, was expelled from his Socialist party after the allegations came to light Friday. The party said he had “handled the list in the worst possible way.”

MEXICO

Smuggling tunnel found

Mexican authorities have discovered a sophisticated smuggling tunnel equipped with electricity and ventilation not far from the Nogales port of entry into Arizona, U.S. and Mexican officials said Friday.

U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed that the Mexican military had discovered the football field-long tunnel with elaborate electricity and ventilation systems.

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Victor Brabble said the tunnel did not cross into the U.S.

CHINA

Elderly get a legal nod

Visit your parents. That's an order.

So says China, whose national legislature on Friday amended its law on the elderly to require that adult children visit their aged parents “often” — or risk being sued by them. The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur.

State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. The move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.